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Khaw Boon Wan
Khaw Boon Wan ( ; born 8 December 1952) is a Malaysian-born Singaporean politician. Since 2011, he has been Minister for National Development and the Chairman of the governing People's Action Party (PAP). PAP appoints Khaw Boon Wan as chairman, channelnewsasia.com, 1 June 2011 He was previously the Minister for Health from August 2004 to May 2011. He has been a Member of Parliament (MP) since 2001. Career Khaw began his career in the Singapore Civil Service. He worked in the Ministry of Health and served as the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the National University Hospital, Kandang Kerbau Women's and Children's Hospital, and the Singapore General Hospital. From 1992 to 1995, Khaw served as the Principal Private Secretary to Prime Minister Goh Chok Tong. From 1995 to 2001, he served as the Permanent Secretary at the Ministry of Trade and Industry. Political career Khaw has been a Member of Parliament since 2001. He represented Tanjong Pagar Group Representation Constituency (Tanjong Pagar GRC) from 2001 to 2006, and Sembawang GRC since 2006. Khaw was appointed as Minister for Health in August 2004. As Minister for Health, Khaw played a key role in combating the SARS epidemic which tested the Singapore's public health resources. He was also noted for his role in handling the National Kidney Foundation (NKF) scandal, and made Gerard Ee the new Chairman of the NKF following the resignation of T. T. Durai. In a parliamentary speech on 9 February 2009, in the context of tackling the rising healthcare costs, he suggested that Singaporeans can consider sending their elderly parents to nursing homes in Johor Bahru in Malaysia, which are more affordable to lower-income Singaporeans. This was quoted by news reports and a public outcry ensued. Khaw subsequently clarified that his statement was quoted out of context by the media and his suggestion was only one of the many choices available to Singaporeans. Following the 2011 general election, Khaw was appointed the Minister for National Development. In his new appointment, he hopes to make housing affordable and accessible to all Singaporeans. Since then, Khaw has ramped up the construction of Build-To-Order (BTO) flats, and increased flat supply to address the demand for public housing. In 2012, 27,000 BTO flats were launched for sale, and another 25,000 have been scheduled to be built in 2013. Khaw also made it his priority to help first-time HDB flat buyers secure a home. To that end, the Housing & Development Board reserved 95% of new BTO flats for these first-timers. In January 2012, Khaw announced that “our goal to help young couples get their first homes is coming true”, and turned his attention to assisting more second-timers. This was achieved by tripling their BTO quota in non-mature estates. He has also stabilised the prices of new flats, ensuring that they are affordable for first-time home buyers. In January 2013, a seventh round of property cooling measures was introduced to moderate the increase in residential and industrial prices. Khaw assured that some 200,000 new housing units would be constructed by 2016, ensuring Singaporeans that “housing remained affordable to Singaporeans”. Khaw maintains a “Housing Matters” blog which he uses to shares thoughts, ideas and plans on national development policies. Education Khaw received his secondary education in Chung Ling High School and Anglo Chinese School in Penang, Malaysia. He later attended the University of Newcastle in Australia on a Colombo Plan Scholarship and graduated in 1977 with a Bachelor of Engineering (Honours) and Bachelor of Commerce. Personal life Khaw is married with three daughters, and is known to be a devout Buddhist. References External links *Profile of Khaw Boon Wan at cabinet.gov.sg *Profile of Khaw Boon Wan at parliament.gov.sg *[2] Category:Members of the Cabinet of Singapore Category:Members of the Parliament of Singapore Category:People's Action Party politicians Category:Malaysian emigrants to Singapore Category:Singaporean Buddhists Category:1952 births Category:Living people Category:Singaporean people of Hokkien descent Category:University of Newcastle (Australia) alumni